Forty-five years ago, the largest and most important strike movement in the history of Quebec took place. During this historic episode, the workers of the province stormed onto the political arena to fight against the bourgeoisie. At its peak, workers occupied the factories and mines, and the general strike movement brought the economy of the province to a halt.

When Justin Trudeau stated that, “Canada is back,” it could have been interpreted as just another one of those hollow phrases which he is so good at. With the unveiling of Canada’s new defence policy on June 7th, we now understand better what he meant. As part of this new policy, the Trudeau government has announced massive increases in the defence budget, particularly the purchase of fighter jets and battleships.

When Black Lives Matter halted the Toronto Pride Parade last year, they had a fairly short list of demands. These demands called for an end to Pride Toronto’s marginalization and exclusion of LGBTQ people of colour, prioritization of the hiring of members from particularly vulnerable sectors of the LGBTQ community (e.g. black trans women), the reinstatement of the South Asian stage, and the removal of police floats from all Pride marches and parades. Indigenous activists joined them by praying, smudging, drumming and chanting, and Latin allies participated in the drumming as well.

On Sunday, June 4, Fightback Oshawa joined various groups in Durham Region, including “Queers Crash the Beat - Durham” and members of several trade unions, to take the streets back at Durham Region's Pride March.

Canada’s “Big Five” banks are under fire for pushing unrealistic sales targets on their employees. To meet these targets, front-line workers are forced to mislead their customers into purchasing financial products without full knowledge.

Canada’s largest non-bank mortgage lender is collapsing. Home Capital Group recently experienced a massive 78 per cent plummet in share prices. This was due to its April 26 press release which stated that, to continue operating, it required an expensive, high interest loan (effectively a 22.5 per cent interest loan) from Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan.

One hundred years ago, Leon Trotsky, the great Russian revolutionary and leader of the October Revolution in 1917, left the Amherst concentration camp in Nova Scotia where he had been detained for almost a month. The story of the time that Trotsky spent in Canada, while not that well known, is a very interesting episode in Trotsky's road to revolutionary Russia, where he would aid the Russian working class in taking power later that year.

On Thursday March 23, the parliamentary motion (M-103) on Islamophobia rightfully passed in the House of Commons. Federal Liberal MP Iqra Khaled introduced this private member’s motion “to quell the increasing public climate of hate and fear” and “condemn Islamophobia and all forms of systemic racism and religious discrimination”. The motion has no concrete proposals and is essentially a statement which condemns Islamophobia. The only practical proposal was that a House committee write a report on Islamophobia.